Report: Sochi Games are most expensive ever

According to research conducted by a team of activists, this year’s Winter Olympic games cost over $50 billion for Russia, with some of the expenses used to fund new rail lines, roads, and tunnels between the Olympic villages. NBC’s Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel reports.

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>>now the opening ceremony of the
winter olympics
just one week from today an
russian presidentvladimir putin
is hoping these games will be one of his crowning achievements but some are questioning the massive $50 billion price tag for this event. nbc's chief foreign correspondent
richard engel
is in
sochi
this morning. richard, good morning to you.

>> reporter: good morning, savannah. make no mistake, we are guests at a
vladimir putin
's
olympics
and they say a great deal about his character, his vision of the games -- and of himself. these are
vladimir putin
's
olympic games
. he's inspected the stadiums. played hockey on the rink. tried on the uniforms. and personally led the campaign to convince the ioc to host the
olympics
in
sochi
in the first place.

>>russia is ready to host the
winter olympic
and
paralympic games
in
2014
.

>> reporter: but why?
putin
likes
sochi
. he works much of the year in the
black sea
town. it's far warmer than moscow, and unique with sea air right next to the mountains.
putin
also likes to associate himself with sports. it fits his image. a man who can meet
world leaders
, but also flip his opponents, race cars, explore underwater, ride bare cheffed. this
pop song
was a hit on the russian charts. it's called "i want a man like
putin
." and a lot of russians want a friend like
putin
. according to opposition activists, many of the contracts for
olympic
venues were awarded to politicians and businessmen close to the
russian president
. according to research publish by a team of activists, the games cost almost $50 billion, including $9.5 billion for new rail lines, roads an tunnels between the
olympic
villages, built by the russian rail monopoly.

>>it's a kind of showcase resort for
putin
, one he's personally very fond of and i think he really wanted for personal reasons to bring the
olympics
there.

>> reporter: putin
has denied that these games are all about him. but this family knows one thing for sure -- they lost their home because of the
olympics
. they showed me where it once stood. bulldozed to make room for sewer lines and some ornamental trees across from an
olympic
headquarters.

>> translator: they knew this was
putin
's project so they did everything they could to build as quickly as possible without thinking of quality or
human rights
," she said. the
sochi
games are most expensive ever, and perhaps no one has more riding on their success than
vladimir putin
.
putin
has acknowledged that corruption is "an unacceptable problem," and promised to fight it. matt, savannah, i guess we'll be seeing you here soon.